After copping so much bad weather in our little tent, we decided we'd had enough. Executive decision: we were going to go to Devon to stay in my parents house for a couple of days, since they were currently somewhere in Europe. We tried to dry the tent as much as possible before packing it away, and then left the campsite.
We drove to England via Tintern, except the road that I had planned to go down was closed and we had to take a detour on a sketchy single track road that had a lot of stone walls on either side. I snapped this photo below on the way.
We crossed the Severn Bridge and drove on to Devon. The weather wasn't so bad, so we went through Cheddar Gorge. This turned out to be a bad idea as it was absolutely teeming with people, so we couldn't get out and have a look around, and both Josh and I have an aversion to big crowds. We had quite a scenic drive after that, going around Wells and Glastonbury before stopping off at a supermarket and then going to our home for a few days.
Annoyingly or not, the weather was actually really nice for most of the time we spent there. We managed to get the tent up and dry it out, we packed away dinner stuff and then we went for a walk around the village. No matter how many times I go there, the fields are always lovely to visit and photograph!
I've got to say... as much as I enjoy camping (when not raining), nothing beats sleeping in a real bed. My hips don't end up digging into the ground, I don't have to fight with a sleeping bag slowly strangling me and I don't have to worry about touching the sides of the tent and getting wet!
The next morning, we were off to Cornwall. A little while ago, my parents and I had driven around the bottom of Cornwall from St Ives. I wanted to take Josh on this drive too, because the landscapes were similar to ones in "Poldark" (apparently, I've never seen it). So we went hunting for some old tin mines.
We picked up the B3306 road which goes around the coastline. It truly is a lovely drive - the views from the road alone are just spectacular!
We drove a bit further around to the National Trust Levant Mine, where we got out to have a look around. It was a nice day to just wander around in the sunshine (for once!).
We stopped off at a little village called St Just to pick up some sandwiches at the Co-op and we drove on! I did make Josh stop at one point though as we both spotted this cool little van!
We drove all the way down to Land's End, the most westerly point of mainland England. I'd never been there before and was amazed at the colour of the ocean there! We parked in a lovely spot and had lunch, looking at this view...
Isn't it just beautiful! Probably a bit chilly in the water though, but at least there was a sand beach and not pebbles!
The next stop was Marazion to go and have a look at St Michael's Mount. The parking areas were all packed, and we'd spotted a purple field on the hill off to the left. So we went to go and look for it. We went past all these suburban houses and ended up in the lanes above the town. We passed people walking around them, who I think we surprised a bit - they mustn't have too many people driving around there. But we stopped right in the middle of the lane, I stood in the car and climbed as high as I could and took this photo, which I love!
We somehow got back to the main road and drove a little further, but we stopped at a cemetery nearby. This had an amazing view over the little island church!
The last, but certainly not least, stop for the day was Kynance Cove. This was another National Trust site - thankfully I was still a member so we parked for free. Then we walked down to the cove, stopping every second step to take photos. Be warned, lots of photos coming, but it was seriously one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to!
I walked down to beach level to enjoy the beauty down below. The cove was full of caves and was really interesting. You must be only able to walk around there at low tide, because the water level mark on the rocks indicated that it would all be flooded in. So we got there at the right time! Oh it was also in "Poldark" as Nampara, according to Wikipedia!
There were quire a lot of people swimming in the cove. It would have been nice had the temperature outside and of the water been warmer, but this is the UK and it's very rarely what an Aussie would classify as "warm".
We went back to the walkway and back. There we were treated to the best view of all over the cove!
We'd driven as far west today as possible so now it was time to go back to my parents house. We made it back at just past 7pm and settled in for the night after a long day. Yes, it was a day with a lot of driving but it was also one of the best!